An old fart needs help setting up shop in a remote location on a boat.

This just showed up on the local CL. $799 OBO
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https://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/tls/d/lathe-mill-prazi/6737417501.html
 
I looked up the layout on your boat. Nice boat. Where are you planning on placing the lathe?
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I lived aboard my Gulfstar 37 for 10 years with 7 years in Mexico. Dealing with leaks, condensation and the inevitable saltwater corrosion was a constant battle. What are your plans for dealing with saltwater corrosion? These small lathes are not made out of stainless steel or bronze and will rust/corrode quickly in a saltwater marine environment. Do you have a generator on board and is it big enough run the lathe? Does the generator put out a proper power wave so as to not damage the motor on the lathe? What are your plans to confine the chips and the lubricants/cutting fluids so that they don't migrate all over the boat? These are just issues that came to mind as I read through the thread. I am sure that there will be others that rear their ugly head as you progress with this project. Buying the lathe and tooling is the easy part of your project. Interrogating it into the boat will be the hard part. I look forward to following your progress.
 
I have a suggestion for a vice and it is a Z-vice. probably one of the most useful things to have on a boat. I've got two of the originals by Zyliss and now they are marketed by 'Renovator' on TV. These seem to be of the same high quality. With secondhand ones I have heard that some time after the Zyliss name was dropped the manufacture was farmed out East and they were N/G. 'Renovator' stuff all seems well made and they have an excellent guarantee. I can personally attest to just how good they are and for marine work they are the bees knees.
Here's a sale video for them:
 
I am a newbie but I would check out little machine shop it has same lathe with upgrades such as rpm meter it might even have the up graded bearings that many harbor fright guys have done on you tube they also have all the accessory you might need for it did you know the harbor freight has plastic gears LMS sells a complete set of metal ones do some research for comon itiems need for repairs for your lathe.. next for your situation I would go with high speed steel tooling being isolated like that getting insert might be a problem. As a newbie I started with inserts but found high speed steel worked better on my lathe pm1030 there is a learning curve but well worth it would buy precut tools and bunch of blanks to make some fore custom tooling. you will need a grinder but lms has on that attaches to lathe https://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=2001&category= a good honing stone for keeping tools sharp. I would check out frank hoose https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC89zCBbbQ6L3yzu60NP-4Tw on youtube for mini lathe reviews and ideas and then keith appleton https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgeQiJg-PIH5MZQn0aRd1mg for steam engine modling
 
I am going to take out the small toilet in the center of the boat. This gives me a 30 x 15 bench and a 10 x 25 bench with some locker space. This is my 15th year as a full time liveaboard so I am used to protecting stuff from rust. It is warm year round where I cruise and very high humidity days are rare. Liberal use of the oily rag and CRC spray should keep things moving. Dealing with chips esp the steel and cast iron will be difficult but I have a shop vac so we will see how it goes. I will have some carpet in the workshop which will be regarded as disposable every few months.

You have thrown a potential spanner in the works though as I was intending to run it off my Vector Maxx SST 1200 watt inverter which turns out to have a modified sine wave output. So I need to find out if it will do or will the magic smoke escape from the lathe speed controller the first time I use it.

My Honda generator has a pure sine wave so that should be fine JUST NOISY.



mickri said:
I looked up the layout on your boat. Nice boat. Where are you planning on placing the lathe?
View attachment 278803

I lived aboard my Gulfstar 37 for 10 years with 7 years in Mexico. Dealing with leaks, condensation and the inevitable saltwater corrosion was a constant battle. What are your plans for dealing with saltwater corrosion? These small lathes are not made out of stainless steel or bronze and will rust/corrode quickly in a saltwater marine environment. Do you have a generator on board and is it big enough run the lathe? Does the generator put out a proper power wave so as to not damage the motor on the lathe? What are your plans to confine the chips and the lubricants/cutting fluids so that they don't migrate all over the boat? These are just issues that came to mind as I read through the thread. I am sure that there will be others that rear their ugly head as you progress with this project. Buying the lathe and tooling is the easy part of your project. Interrogating it into the boat will be the hard part. I look forward to following your progress.
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was it me, I would get some HSS bits instead of the carbide, and a very small grinder to grind them. Also, I would get a dial indicator caliper instead of the electronic one, it might be more resistant to corrosion, and will work without a battery. +1 on the best vise available, you can do an awful lot with files and stones if the work is held securely.
 
Grizzly's 7 x 14 G0765 listed a length of 29 3/4 inches. Those two inches may come in handy. Littlemachineshop's 7 x 16 hi torque blows your budget at 31 inches. I would think about some blank HSS tool bits and a small grinder, as you may need to grind some special bits to make some features you may need. On that note a stock of several sizes of drill rod and a torch hoss enough to heat them to red heat for making special tools and boring bars would be of interest. You may also want to get some silver solder to go with that torch as well, in case yo need to build up a part from several pieces (or fix an error). Loctite is good to have for that, too. A collet chuck (MT3 ER 32 or 40 with collets) may also be handy. You can't have too much tooling for the lathe. Unfortunately, no one makes a boring table for that lathe, which would be very nice to have. Check out some of the casting kits on Metal Lathe Accessories and the kits on Hemingway Kits in the UK, Hemingway specializes in tooling and kits for building small steam and gas engines. Take care.
 
My only advise is go as large as you can on the lathe and the mill. Separate machines are better then lathe adaptors to mill .
 
Silverbullet said:
My only advise is go as large as you can on the lathe and the mill. Separate machines are better then lathe adaptors to mill .
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Thank you Silverbullet If I had the space I would indeed go large but I live on a boat and my bench is 30 1/2 inches long. x 15 plus a smaller space so a 7 x 12 with a milling attachment is about all I can fit in.
 
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